How can AI improve healthcare? And how do we deploy AI in healthcare in an ethical way? These questions are the focus of the educational board game AI+Hospital, part of the online curriculum AIProHealth. The curriculum has already been used by some 2250 people around the world. Together with initiator Data Science Center in Health (DASH), we developed a matching board game that has generated considerable interest, both within and far beyond the walls of the UMCG.
Game designer Bas tells you more about the process
AIProHealth (Practical Artificial Intelligence for Healthcare Professionals) is a large international consortium funded by a grant from EIT Health. Within the consortium, experts are jointly developing a customizable AI learning environment with different learning modules. One such module is the course “How Artificial Intelligence Can Support Healthcare. This course is available through FutureLearn.
But how do you ensure that students also learn to translate the knowledge into practice? And start actively thinking about it with each other? From these desires came the idea of adding a physical component to the curriculum. An active work format that would stimulate the conversation about AI in healthcare and perpetuate the knowledge from the course. 8D Games was responsible for the concept and realization of this physical course component.
ApproachA serious game for healthcare cannot be developed without input from domain experts. Through a series of brainstorms with experts, perspectives on the use of AI In healthcare were first collected. Next, DASH developed the “patient journeys” – various partient scenarios in which AI could potentially provide a solution. These storylines form the backbone of the game. The involvement of experts has ensured that the game content is accurate and includes ethical and legal aspects of using AI have been taken into account.
This made it possible to steer a substantive discussion about AI in healthcare with game mechanics. Game designer Bas Altenburg, for example, chose to give players an implicit message via game design: it is not about the perfect answer, but about engaging in the conversation. If you share nothing, you get zero points. If you do share an idea – even if it is not perfect – you still get a point. Altenburg: “That sounds basic, but this kind of intervention works very well and subtly. The purpose of this game is discussion and knowledge exchange, so then you reward player behavior that is in line with that.’
ResultsAI+ Hospital is frequently used at conferences, symposiums and during educational activities. Project leader Peter Van Ooijen (DASH) notes, “It’s best when there is a mix of people at the table, people with different professions and knowledge levels. That really livens up the discussion.”
Data scientist Eline Meijer – a regular game facilitator at these events – sees that people are generally pleasantly surprised by the format: “It’s fun to see how people are sometimes a bit skeptical or unsure at first, but go wild after the first round. It sometimes happens that they get into a discussion with the game leader because they think their choice should score more points! Or that people want to continue after game time ends because they are too curious to see how it ends with the fictional patient. Then you know that the goal has been achieved: AI in healthcare will certainly keep ringing in their heads.”
Although the educational board game was initially intended as a “concluding” element of the course on FutureLearn, in practice AI+Hospital is also widely used as a stand-alone activity. On the other hand, the popularity of the game at events and conferences means that more people know how to find the online course. Thus, the board game is in fact also a powerful promotional tool for the full course on AI in healthcare.
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